Speeches of Hon. William D. Kelley
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| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Kelley, William D.) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Speeches of Hon. William D. Kelley: Replies of the Hon. William D. Kelley to George Northrop, Esq., In the Joint Debate in the Fourth Congressional District Fellow-cittzens. - I thank you for the good order you have preserved. If this discussion can be carried through, a great advance will have been made in. I think I may say, our civilization. If we can inaugurate a system by which the people of both, or of all parties, if there should be more than two in the canvass, shall come together and hear their representatives discuss the questions, the principles and the measures involved, a great improvement in our political machinery will certainly have been made; and I hope that every friend of mine will be as silent throughout the discussion as you have been during the speech you have heard. I am quite sure that those who differ from me in opinion will accord to me the same respectful treatment with which the suggestions of their representative have been received by my friends. I agree, as does every member of the Administration party, with the first two propositions laid down by my distinguished competitor. I am here at his request; I will not say challenged by him, but invited, to meet you and discuss the issues of the day with him. I shall endeavor to do so fearlessly and in the spirit of a patriot, striving only to promote the welfare of my country and yours, the home of our prosperity. My friend´s first proposition is that the "Constitution of the United States, within its limitations, is the supreme law of the land, and the only bond of the Union of the States." As I have said, I accept this proposition. It governs the head of the Administration that I sustain. It controls the conduct of the members of the party to which I belong. I wish you, however, to mark a single phrase, not dropped, but reiterated, and dwelt upon by my competitor, which is utterly inconsistent with this, his leading proposition. I refer to the phrase "sovereign States." Sovereignty is supremacy. That which is sovereign is supreme; that which is sovereign governs and controls all within the sphere of its jurisdiction. The Constitution of that Nation known as the United States was, from the hour it went into effect, the supreme law of our whole land, and is now its supreme law, and the great issue testing by the American people on the battle-field to-day is, whether that Constitution shall be maintained as the supreme law of the land, or whether it shall be trampled under foot, and each State Constitution be recognized as the supreme law of whatever territory may lie within the limits of that State ; the question is whether we have a country, and a Constitution which is the supreme law of that country, or whether the Constitution of the United States is idle words, and the supreme law of the land is to be found in conflicting instruments called the Constitutions of thirty-five "Sovereign States." Either the Constitution of the United States is sovereign, or it is waste paper; and if it is sovereign, then there can be no "Sovereign States" within the limits of the United States. My friend´s next proposition is (and I accept it, as every school-boy must), "that the only mode by which the Constitution can be altered or amended is prescribed by that instrument itself." This proposition expresses one of the cardinal doctrines of the party I have the honor to represent in this discussion. It is part of the faith of every member, because it is written legibly as type or the human hand can write it in the language of the Constitution. Now, my fellow-citizens, as my competitor and I agree, and as you all agree, that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, let us ask, what is the extent of that land? On the inauguration of James Buchanan´s administration, it consisted of certain State
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